186 



IRISH GARDENING 





Allotments. 



General Work.— Potatoes and other vegetables 

 stored on the plots should be examined occasion- 

 ally, and decayed Potatoes and roots removed. 

 Needless to say, the clamps should not be opened 

 during severe weather, and then when the heaps 

 have been thoroughly overliauled an extra cover- 

 ing of soil should be given for protection in frosty 

 weather. The remains of summer vegetables and 

 autunm Cauliflowers should be dug up and re- 

 moved to the fire heap. It is best to burn accumu- 

 lated rubbish on the plot. Decayed leaves should 

 be removed from Brussels Sprouts and Broccoli. 

 Cauliflowers in frames should be cleaned over and 

 examined for decay. The digging and trenching 

 of the plot should he pushed on at every oppor- 

 tunity. Rliubarb can be forced quite easily by 

 placing old tubs over the crowns, helping the forc- 

 ing process with str.iwy litter, or spare roots may 

 be lifted and kept in the dark in a shed or placed 

 in a cellar. 



RoT.\TioN OF Crops. — Everyone is aware that a 

 farmer adopts a rotation of crops on the farm, l)y 

 sowing or planting so that the crop is on a different 

 field every year. Tt is advisable that some sort of 

 rotation should be followed on the allotment, and 

 this is imderstood t)y the majority of allotment 

 holders, who try to plant their Potatoes on a 

 different part of the plot to that of the previous 

 year. However, the area of a plot is too small to 

 adopt an elaborate system of rotation, and gener- 

 ally it would not be miderstood if suggested. But 

 the allotment holder is wise who endeavours to 

 plant Potatoes, Onions, Carrots, and Cabbages on 

 a different part of the plot each year. The rotation 

 of crops on a farm is an imi^ortant feature In his 

 system, and farmers knew the advantages of it 

 long before the ])rincii)les underlying it were 

 understood. But once again there is a good deal 

 of difference between a farm and a garden, and 

 with many of the best market gardeners rotation 

 of crops does not enter into their system of cropping 

 at all. They dig deei)ly, manure highly, and plant 

 any crop that is ready on the ground available. 

 Nevertheless, it is quite certain that it is not a good 

 practice to grow the same vegetables on the same 

 land each year. Every gardener knows the advan- 

 tages of growing Peas on old Celery trenches, and 

 other instances could be quoted. Even the n)0st 

 ignorant of allotment holders does not sow Carrots 

 on the same portion of groiuid if he has been 

 troubled with the Carrot fly, and the same thing 

 sliould apply in the case of club-root on Cabbages 

 and Turnips. Closely allied to rotation is the sys- 

 tematic cropping of the allotment. By this is 

 meant aiming to grow the most suitable kinds of 

 vegetables for the holder's own use, and havintr 

 them in succession, so that there is not a surplus 



one month and a scarcity the next. Probably what 

 is most important, a continuous supply of vege- 

 tables over as long a period as possible. 



Co-oi>ER.\TioN. — It is rather surprising allotment 

 holders have not more generally adopted the co- 

 operative system, when purchasing seeds, manures, 

 &c. The advantages are so obvious, and many seed 

 mercliants encourage the fornuition of allotment 

 societies for this purpose in offering facilities by 

 means of liberal discount on collections of seeds. 

 The organisation necessary is so simple, and any 

 expenditure easily saved, because seeds could be 

 bought more cheaply, also a saving on carriage and 

 postage. Once the movement was started it could 

 be developed in a surprising number of ways. As 

 a suggestion, it would be quite possible to get a 

 complete change of seed potatoes in a rural district 

 by making arrangements with a local farmer to 

 have the desired quantity sent down with his own 

 consignment. The Plots Association in Belfast 

 usually make arrangements and purchase artificial 

 manures and seed potatoes in qiuintity, for distri- 

 bution in small lots. In the case of artificial 

 manures these can usually be obtained in the bags 

 as received from the manufacturer or wholesale 

 dealer, and especially with the class of article 

 the retail shops would rather sell in bulk early 

 in the season, to dealing with small qiumtities 

 when there is a rush of orders in the spring. 



V.^RiETiEs OF Vegetables. — The selections of vege- 

 tables offered by seedsmen are usually so good that 

 the question of selecting useful kinds of vegetables 

 for the plot is a fairly easy matter. So far as is 

 known, the kind of vegetable selected shoidd be 

 one that suits the district. Possibly a certain 

 variety has been grown on an adjoining plot which 

 has done well, and it is just as well for an allot- 

 ment holder to confine himself to tliese well-proved 

 sorts. The varieties of vegetables offered by seeds- 

 men with a reputation, sucli as those that adver- 

 tise in Irish Gardening, are always reliable and 

 practically ceitain to grow. Old and worthless 

 kinds have been eliminated from their lists, and 

 the kinds offered can be relied upon to be true to 

 name, which, luifortunately, cannot always be said 

 of seedsmen who have no .reputation to lose for 

 high-class seeds, and sell anything on the get-rich- 

 quick principle. 



\ Cold Frame. — On allotments, small green- 

 houses and frames gradiuilly spring up, and the 

 conglomeration of structures on some of the older 

 allotments is wonderful. Usually, what they lack 

 in ornament is nuide up in usefulness. A small 

 frame is almost a lUH'essity for a good allotnu^nt. 

 There is luirdly a day in the year when it is not 

 occupied. It is valuable to winter Cauliilowers in, 

 to start Vegetable Marrows in the spring, for in- 

 serting cuttings for the flower liorder. Quite good 

 crops of Tonuitoes are grown in frames. It should 

 not be a heavy structiu'c; in fact the lighter the 

 better. The sides can be made with old turf, only 

 the roof being of glass. On allotments which are 

 exposed and windy, a strong hof)k and cluiin may 

 V)e necessary to hold the roof in ])osition. 



The pvn-pose of these monthly notes then has 

 been to aim at a greater i)r(i(luc'ti()n on the allot- 

 ment and to guide the allotnu'iit holder and owners 

 of small gardens into an intelligent cultivation of 

 the soil, i)elieving that the creation of allotments 

 imder the stress of necessity can l)e turned also 

 into a useful recreation. If Dean Swift be true, 

 then the ])eoj)le who have turned waste places or 

 inii)rofitable i)asture into fruitful ^'ardens have not 

 only benefited therel)y themselves, but have also 

 been liciiefactors to their Cf)untrv. 



G. H. O. 



